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all things to concern himself in ;* this still amounts INTRO. to the same. For if God be omnipresent, all-knowing, and all-powerful, he cannot but equally know, and with equal ease be able to direct and govern,† all things as any, and the minutest things as the greatest. So that if he has no regard nor concern for these things, his attributes must, as before, be denied, and consequently his being. But, besides, human affairs are by no means the minutest and most inconsiderable part of the creation: For, (not to consider now, that excellency of human nature which Christianity discovers to us,) let a deist suppose the universe as large as the widest hypothesis of astronomy will give him leave to imagine, or let him suppose it as immense as he himself pleases, and filled with as great numbers of rational creatures as his own fancy can suggest; yet the system wherein we are placed will at least, for ought he can reasonably suppose, be as considerable as any other single system; and the earth whereon we dwell as considerable as most of the other planets in this system, and mankind manifestly the only considerable inhabitants on this globe of earth. Man, therefore, has evidently a better claim to the particular regard and concern of providence than any thing else in this globe of ours; and this our globe of earth as just a pretence to it as most other planets in the system;

* Εισί γάρ τινες ἱ νομίζεσιν εἶναι τὰ θεῖα, καὶ τοιαῦτα διάπες ὁ λόγος αὐτὰ ἐξέφηνεν, ἀγαθὰ, καὶ δυναμιν ἔχοντα την ακροτάτην, καὶ γνῶσιν την τε λειοτάτην. τῶν μεντοι ἀνθροπίνων καταφρονεῖν, ὡς μικρῶν καὶ ἐντελῶν ὄντων, καὶ ἀναξίων τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἐπιμελείας.-Simplic. in Epictet.

+ Deorum providentia mundus administratur; iidemque consulunt rebus humanis ; neque solum universis, verum etiam singulis. -Cic. de Divinat. lib. 1.

† Αλλ ̓ ἐδὲν τάχ ̓ ἂνἴσως ἔιη χαλεπὸν ἐνδείξασθαι τοῦτόγε, ὡς ἐπιμελεῖς σμικρῶν εἰσι θεοί, ἐκ ητίον ἤ τῶν μεγέθει διαφερόντων.-Plato de Leg. lib.

10.

Ἐν δὲ τοῦ ὅλε κόσμε ὁ θεὸς ἔπιμελεῖται ἀνάγκη καὶ τῶν μερῶν αὐτοῦ προς νοεῖν ; ὥσπερ καὶ αἱ τέχναι ποιούσι. Καὶ γὰς ἰατρὸς τοῦ ὅλα σώματος ἐπιμε ληθῆναι προθέμενος, οὐκ ἂν ἀμελήσειε τῶν μερῶν· οὐδὲ στρατηγὸς ἐευ οικονό μος, ἢ πολιτικὸς ἀνήρ τῶν γὰρ μερῶν ἀμελομένων, ἀνάγκη χειρόνως τὸ ὅλον diariola-Simplic. in Epictet.

L

INTRO. and this system as just a one, as far as we can judge, as any system in the universe. If therefore there be any providence at all, and God has any. concern for any part of the world, mankind, even separate from the consideration of that excellency of human nature which the Christian doctrine discovers to us, may as reasonably be supposed to be under its particular care and government as any other part of the universe.

Of the

of deists.

2. Some others there are that call themselves deists, second sort because they believe, not only the being, but also the providence of God; that is, that every natural thing that is done in the world is produced by the power, appointed by the wisdom, and directed by the government of God. Though not allowing any difference between moral good and evil, they suppose that God takes no notice of the morally good or evil actions of men; these things depending, as they imagine, merely on the arbitrary constitution of human laws. But how handsomely soever these men may seem to speak of the natural attributes of God, of his knowledge, wisdom, and power, yet neither can this opinion be settled on any certain principles, nor defended by any consistent reasoning; nor can the natural attributes of God be so separated from the moral but that he who denies the latter may be reduced to a necessity of denying the former likewise. For since (as I have formerly proved,) there cannot but be eternal and necessary differences of different things, one from another, and, from these necessary differences of things, there cannot but arise a fitness or unfitness of the application of different things or different relations one to another; and infinite knowledge can no more fail to know, or infinite wisdom to choose, or infinite power to act, according to these eternal reasons and proportions of things, than knowledge can be ignorance, wisdom be folly, or power weakness; and consequently the justice and goodness of God are as certain and necessary as his wisdom and power;-it follows unavoidably,

that he who denies the justice or goodness of God, INTRO. or, which is all one, denies his exercise of these attributes in inspecting and regarding the moral actions of men, must also deny, either his wisdom, or his power, or both; and, consequently, must needs be driven into absolute atheism: For though in some moral matters men are not indeed to be judged of by the consequences of their opinions, but by their profession and practice, yet in the present case* it matters not at all what men affirm, or how honourably they may seem to speak of some particular attributes of God; but what, notwithstanding such profession, must needs in all reason be supposed to be their true opinion; and their practice generally appears answerable to it.

bauched

gued with.

For, concerning these two sorts of deists, it is ob- Profane servable, that as their opinions can terminate consis- and detently in nothing but downright atheism, so their deists not practice and behaviour is generally agreeable to that capable of being arof the most openly professed atheists. They not only oppose the revelation of Christianity, and reject all the moral obligations of natural religion, as such, but generally they despise also the wisdom of all human constitutions made for the order and benefit of mankind, and are as much contemners of common decency as they are of religion. They endeavour to ridicule and banter all human as well as divine accomplishments; all virtue and government of a man's self, all learning and knowledge, all wisdom and honour, and every thing for which a man can justly be commended or be esteemed more excellent than a beast. They pretend commonly, in their discourse and writings, to expose the abuses and corruptions of religion; but (as is too manifest in some of their books as well as in their talk, they aim really against all virtue in general, and all good manners, and against whatsoever is truly

* Quasi ego id curem, quid ille aiat aut neget : Illud quæro, quid et consentaneum sit dicere,, qui, &c.-Cic. de Finib. lib. 2.

INTRO. valuable and commendable in men. They pre tend to ridicule certain vices and follies of ignorant or superstitious men; but the many very profane and very lewd images, with which they industriously affect to dress up their discourse, show plainly that they really do not so much intend to expose and deride any vice or folly, as on the contrary to foment and please the debauched and vicious inclinations of others as void of shame as themselves. They discover clearly, that they have no sense at all of the dignity of human nature, nor of the superiority and excellency of their reason above even the meanest of the brutes. They will sometimes in words seem to magnify the wisdom, and other natural attributes of God, but in reality, by ridiculing whatever bears any resemblance to it in men, they show undeniably that they do not indeed believe there is any real difference in things, or any true excellency in one thing more than in another. By turning every thing alike, and without exception, into ridicule and mockery, they declare plainly that they do not believe any thing to be wise, any thing decent, any thing comely or praiseworthy at all. They seem not to have any esteem or value for those distinguishing powers and faculties; by induing them wherewith God has "taught them more than the beasts of the field, and made them wiser than the fowls of heaven.”* In a word; " "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise;"+ these things they make the constant subject of their mockery and abuse, ridicule and raillery. On the contrary, whatsoever things are profane, impure, filthy, dishonourable, and absurd; these things they make it their business to represent as harmless and indifferent, and to laugh men out of their natural shame and abhorrence of them; nay, even to recom

*Job xxxv. 11. Phil. iv. 8.

mend them with their utmost wit. Such men as INTRO. these are not to be argued with, till they can be persuaded to use arguments instead of drollery: For banter is not capable of being answered by reason; not because it has any strength in it, but because it runs out of all the bounds of reason and good sense, by extravagantly joining together such images as have not in themselves any manner of similitude or connexion; by which means all things are alike easy to be rendered ridiculous, by being represented only in an absurd dress. These men, therefore, are first to be convinced of the true principles of reason be fore they can be disputed with; and then they must of necessity either retreat into downright atheism, or be led by undeniable reasoning to acknowledge and submit to the obligations of morality, and heartily repent of their profane abuse of God and religion.

of deists.

3. Another sort of deists there are, who, having of the right apprehensions concerning the natural attributes third sort of God, and his all-governing providence, seem also to have some notion of his moral perfections also. That is, as they believe him to be a being infinitely knowing, powerful, and wise, so they believe him to be also in some sense a being of infinite justice, goodness, and truth, and that he governs the universe by these perfections, and expects suitable obedience from all his rational creatures. But then, having a prejudice against the notion of the immortality of human souls, they believe that men perish entirely at death, and that one generation shall per, petually succeed another, without any thing remaining of men after their departure out of this life, and without any future restoration or renovation of things. And imagining that justice, and goodness in God, are not the same as in the ideas we frame of these perfections, when we consider them in men, or when we reason about them abstractly in themselves, but that in the supreme governor of the world they are something transcendent, and of which we cannot make any true judgment, nor argue with any cer

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